Improved artificial fuel



JULIUS AUGUSTUS ROTH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA; i

IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL FUEL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,337. dated April-18,1865.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JULIUS' AUGUSTUS ROTH, of the cityof Philadelphia,and State of Pennsylvania, have inventeda new and useful chemicalprocess to conglomerate the fine atoms of so-called wasted coal, for theproduction and utilization of the same as a solid fuel for all purposeswherever fuel is applied, reference being had to the samplesaccompanying my specification, which I call conglomerated coal.

It is a well-known fact that wherever the mineral coal is mined and;prepared for the market a large portion is rejected as not marketable onaccount of its being too small to be burned on the grates now in use.Thiswasted coal has been thrown aside at the mines, and has accumulatedto millions of tons in the State of Pennsylvania alone, and ever sincethe mines have been worked no use has been made of the same. However,various attempts by different men have been made to utilize this wastedcoal, and several plans have been brought forward with a view to arriveat a practical manipulation but up to this time none have succeeded fortheir own or the good of mankind. In most of these attempts recourse washad to resinous, calcareous, muriatic, and carbonaceous substances asthe binding agents for the dust of coal, and the ideas thereby exhibitedmerely show a desire to accomplish the proper result, as well as a greatwant of the knowledge necessary for that purpose. Mineral fuel is knownto require a considerable amount of shifting and transportation beforearriving at the place where it is to be used, by which it is subjectedto rough and hard collisions. Besides, it is exposed to all the changesin the atmosphere. It is also known that nearly in all cases where thefuel collected by the small quantity of lime in the coal mortar from theatmosphere to make PATENT ()FFICEQ the carbonate of limeis insufficientfor the practical application for the purpose of form ing a permanentsolidfuel, and remains, there fore, theory only. When resinous matter ithe binding agent of the coal-dust, particu larly that of anthracitecoal, a great difficulty exhibits itself at once when the fuel is placedinto the stove or grate. The resinous sub stance is readily ignited bythe fire, and burn away with dispatch, but leaving the coaldusunignited, which makes it useless. I alsofindthat the use of muriaticsubstances compare with that of carbonic acid in the absorption. ofdisuniting elements from theair and various gases to which the coalnecessarily'is exposed while stored away. [have succeeded in combiningfirmly together these wasted atoms of coal-dust, which I conglomerate bychemical means different from any previously used for the purpose ofutilizing it in a perfect solid] state, so that moisture orother'causcshave no effect upon the same, and I am now able to give a clear andpractical descriptionof the means which I apply. y y 1 l X I generallyuse about one=eighth part of lime. in solution to seven-eighths part ofthe coal-. dust,which I mix thoroughly together, either 1 by machineryor otherwise,forming thereby a mortar of such temper as is required forthe manipulation of the same into balls or blocks. When a sufficientquantity of these blocks are j made, I placethe same into a shed orchamber, made of brick or other material, in such apol sition thatcorresponding cellular-arranged, passages are formed and leftopenthroughout y the whole stack of blocks. 1 now introduce byconnecting-fines sulphurous-acid gas into, 3 the chamber or shedcontaining the cellular stack of blocks for the purpose of charging the.lime contained therein with the acid, and thereby converting it'intosulphate oflime, by which the mass is hardened and made solid.;, Iobtain the gas from the coarser part of the coal-waste and the sulphateso plenty about the coal-mines, which I burn with a slowdraft ona grate,by which their gases are discharged, K and this gas so obtained I conveyinto the chamber containingthe blocks to be treated with the acid. Aftersufiicientgas has been ready for transportationto the market.

introduced, the blocksare solid and hard, and 11v Having described mychemical process for J erating the Waste coal-dust, and thereby protheproduction of artificial fuel, I will now state What I claim and desireto secure by in my specification.

Letters Patent JULIUS AUGUSTUS ROTH.

The impregnation of the solution of lime Witnesses: with sulphurous acidobtained from coal or CHARLES SERGEAN'I, other sulphates for the purposeof conglom- I GEO. M. DALLAS, Jr.

ducing a solid fuel, substantially as set forth

